If you want peace, work for justice

If we can step outside our nationalism for a moment — which is a difficult, if not impossible, task for many of us — and view war from a world community perspective, what do we see?

Can any of us see the ultimate folly of war and its overall destructiveness?

Dwight Eisenhower once stated, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."

He also stated that he hated war. He hated its barbarism and its stupidity. Most sensitive and humane officers likely feel the same way. War is hell.

But yet it is also glorified.

Perhaps as long as it is glorified, we will continue our warring madness.Do we really want peace? If we really want peace, we must work for justice through peaceful means.

As another great American and prophet stated, "Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." His name is Martin Luther King Jr. He was a Christian minister who believed in nonviolence.

A Christian minister who believed in nonviolence: Imagine that.

Roman Leverenz
Aliamanu

State should take control of hospital

There is a public need for St. Francis West (Hawaii Medical Center) because it is the only full medical facility serving the southwest and leeward coast areas. The decrepit Liliha site is no longer a necessary acute patient care facility.

Over the past several years the owners have been intent upon at least salvaging their economic interest, with or without consideration of public need. The communities continue to suffer from the delay and lack of local medical services as the center wends its way through bankruptcy. The public can no longer tolerate the continued delay in resolving the problems. The health needs of the area formerly served by St. Francis West are being held hostage for settlement of the financial interests and the desire to continue the Liliha site.

The government should condemn and take St. Francis West in the public interest and reopen it immediately under appropriate management. This would leave the Liliha campus to the discretion of the existing financial interests.

Doug Worrall
Kahuku

HMSA rate hikes killing smaller firms

Seriously? Again?("HMSA will raise rates for small businesses," Star-Advertiser, May 24).

Is there some master plan to eradicate small businesses in America?Aren’t we the nation’s backbone?

Hawaii Medical Service Association is a profit-making entity, with first-quarter revenues of $12.8 million.I would like to just see 1 percent of that.

At the rate things are going, small business may soon be on the endangered species list.

Debbie Wong
Downtown Honolulu

UH executive pay has better uses

David Shapiro questioned the salaries of high-ranking University of Hawaii officials, referring to UH as a "Ford Pinto university on a Cadillac budget" (David Shapiro, Flashback, May 19).

One wonders how the money would have otherwise been spent. Perhaps a new roof would be in order for one of the chronically under-maintained buildings on the Manoa campus — like the one that housed the university’s Fiscal Management Department, which was destroyed by fire on Feb. 12. The UH Board of Regents voted 13-0to hire the incoming chancellor, who will be paid $102,000 a year more than his predecessor, on whose watch that fire took place.

The outgoing chancellor will receive a $287,000 paid vacation/sabbatical and a $292,000-a-year job when she gets back.

It should be noted that the new chancellor will be paid $39,008 more than Barack Obama’s 2011 salary of $400,000 as president of the United States.

Mark Smith
Honolulu

Cayetano ignoring plight of commuters

Auwe to Gov. Ben Cayetano, who truly believes we don’t need the rail system in Hawaii nei.

I wonder if he ever rode the bus and had to sit for 1½ to two hours while having the hot afternoon sun in his face on his way home from work every day.

Did he read the Star-Advertiser’s front-page statistics that showed Hawaii has the worst traffic in the U.S. ("Honolulu crawls to top," Star-Advertiser, May 23)?

It was 20 years ago that Rene Mansho voted against the rail, and now the citizens of Honolulu are paying double the amount for the rail transit system.

Johanna Ferge
Waipahu

Don’t route rail through downtown

I’m glad that one mayoral candidate has reservations about the rail going through downtown on Nimitz Highway ("Caldwell wants to revisit design of downtown part of rail project," Star-Advertiser, May 23).

However, his redesign ideas don’t help much.It would still be a blight on downtown.

Instead, the rail should be rerouted down North and South Beretania, Alapai and King Streets to University Avenue. This would serve commuters going to District Court, the Capitol, the Police Department, City Hall, the Blaisdell Center and the University of Hawaii, instead of focusing on shoppers at the malls and Kakaako developers.

Jonathan Carr
Kuliouou Valley